The Magic Number
by whatpassesformymind
Summary: Written for The Magic Number challenge, 7 drabbles/oneshots about the Weasley children.
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Magic Number  
Chapter 1: Never Say Goodbye  
A/N: Written for a-trip-to-honeydukes' The Magic Number competition, with the Weasley children.

Bill limped into the Great Hall, past the dead and the dying, the grieving and the relieved. He had helped carry some in, but now the flood had reduced to a trickle and the Hall was overflowing. There weren't enough Healers to treat everyone. Screams ripped through the air. The battle was going badly. Voldemort couldn't lose, and the Light couldn't afford to.  
Harry Potter was nowhere to be seen. He was their only hope.  
He paused for a second, listening to other families.  
"You'll be fine sweetie," One mother tried to reassure her son.  
"No I won't Mum. Just accept it. I'm dying." He choked out, coughing up blood. Her reply was lost in her wailing. "It's time to say goodbye."  
Bill wiped at his eyes and continued walking to his family. The mass of redheads were crowded around Fred. George crouched by his head, tears still falling. Fleur stood a little back, hair wild and clothes torn, but apparently unharmed. He made his way over to her and pulled her into his arms.  
"Never say goodbye. No matter what."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Magic Number  
Chapter 2: If You Were Here

Charlie stood at the window of his house at the dragon sanctuary. Snow was falling outside – a charm of some sort, gone very wrong. But it wasn't dangerous, even if it reached their armpits now, and getting out of the house was impossible. No-one had managed to stop it, and magic wouldn't even shift it an inch. Frost clung to the window panes, making intricate spider webs that he traced with his fingers. _If only you were here, _Charlie thought, _then we would be snowed in together. And maybe, maybe, in the days and hours it is taking to fix this you would see that I'm really not that bad. For a Gryffindor. For a Weasley. _But no. She took a 2 week holiday at the worst moment yet, leaving him alone in the rooms they shared, free from her lovely voice shooting sarcastic comments at him across the kitchen table. _Although, _his thoughts continued, _if you could stand here and look out at this beautiful view, you wouldn't notice it. You would be staring at the faint plumes of smoke and orange sparks in the dragon pen. You care about them more than me, my dear._


	3. Chapter 3

Title: The Magic Number  
Chapter 3: Peace At Last

Percy stood on the doorstep of the Burrow, tugging at his clothes. He raised his hand to knock, then lowered it again. After the final battle was over the Ministry had been insane – the only chance he'd had so far to see his family was Fred's funeral. So now he was in front of his old home, wondering when he had let his work lead him so far away, when the Ministry had become more important than his parents. He went to knock again, dropped his hand away, then squared his shoulders. Just as he lifted his arm again, the doorway swung open to reveal Molly Weasley, looking back over her shoulder and yelling to Arthur.  
"Harry and Hermione are coming for dinner tonight, they've been redecorating again... oh!" She had finally looked his way, dropping the basket of chicken feed she had been carrying. Percy pulled out his wand to fix it, and found himself unable to breathe. Molly was wrapped around him, crying.  
"Oh Percy! You came home!" He patted her shoulder, realising that the last time she had hugged him he had been shorter than her, while he now looked down on her greying head.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: The Magic Number  
Chapter 4: Better Safe Than Sorry

Fred hesitated over the body. He didn't even know if it was Voldemort's or one of the Light's. But it was clutching a wand, and a spare might come in useful. This was war, and the final battle raged like an infuriated dragon in the rest of the castle, but he had found a temporary spot of peace. This room was inhabited only by the dead. Angelina stuck her head around the door ahead.  
"Come on Freddy. We have to keep going." She attempted a half smile at him.  
"Okay, just coming Angie." Worry swirled around them, drawing them closer. He wrapped his arms around her, comforting them both. It had been years since this had been anything romantic. Now, he saw her look at George and smile, even with the threat of Voldemort hanging over them.  
"He'll be okay" They spoke at the same time, and would have laughed in any other situation. He reached down and grabbed the wand. Better safe than sorry. They ducked under a fallen archway, onto the seventh floor corridor, to see Percy battling among others. They joined the fight, dodging jets of deadly light.  
"Hello Minister! Did I mention I'm resigning?" Percy shouted towards Thicknesse. Fred laughed – they had Percy back.  
"You're joking Perce! You _actually_ are joking... I don't think I've heard you joke since you were -"


	5. Chapter 5

Title: The Magic Number  
Chapter 5: Intriguing

George looked around. Everything around him was white. The seat beneath him, the train carriage surrounding him, and the shifting view out of the windows. He was also naked, but as he was alone he didn't give that thought much attention. There were more urgent idea's floating to the surface... Like the growing suspicion that he had died. Quite recently, although time here seemed a bit off. But he didn't look anything like he had when he died. The grey hair and arthritic hands had been replaced by a much younger, healthier body.  
So if he was dead, where was he now? Just as George thought this, the compartment door slid open – the first sound to break the emptiness.  
"Good evening Mr. Weasley... Which Mr. Weasley are you, out of interest?" An fuzzy humanoid shape juggling papers sat down opposite him.  
"Umm, I'm Fred?" Clothes had appeared with the fuzzball, as Fred had mentally named it. He answered about 20 questions, to which the fuzzball commented 'Intriguing, intriguing..." and scribbled on some of the papers, frustrating him more and more.  
"Look, what's so bloody intriguing?" Fred finally burst out with.  
"You are."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: The Magic Number

Chapter 6: A Problem Halved

Ron lay back on his bed as Harry paced in the room they shared. The war was over, and despite the heavy losses life was pretty good again. He was staying with Harry until Hermione came back from Australia with her parents, and this was one of the only inhabitable rooms. He propped himself up on his elbows.  
"What's up mate?" He asked tentatively. Harry's occasional fits of rage appeared to have subsided after the war, but you never knew.  
"Oh nothing." Harry was kicking random objects around on the floor.

"Doesn't look like nothing." Ron paused. Silence. "You can talk to me you know." Harry flopped face first onto his bed. "I'm your friend. A problem shared is a problem halved you know." He kept up the light, conversational tone while attempting to analyse Harry's muffled sighs.  
"I can't tell you Ron. I don't want you to get involved." Harry rolled over to glare at the ceiling.  
"Come on Harry. I promise I won't do anything stupid... or you could talk to Gin. Everyone's worrying, you've been really out of sorts and..." Ron had run out of persuasion. Words were not his strong point.  
"I can't talk to her... I mean, I don't think things are going to work out with us. Everyone thinks we should be together and it's just too much! I don't think I like her that way. She's like a sister to me, always has been... Oh I shouldn't be telling you this she's your sister!" Harry rambled on.  
"Yeah. And I'm your friend."


	7. Chapter 7

Title: The Magic Number  
Chapter 7: Accidents Will Happen

Ginny stood in the centre of her room, looking around. Today she was leaving for Hogwarts again, but everything had changed. Snape was in charge, and Harry had gone. She didn't know if she would even make it back here alive. So many memories linked to this place... there was that spot where Fred and George set off fireworks and blew a hole in the floor, the worn teddies in the corner that had been Charlie's, which Ron accidentally set on fire when he was 6. There was a cracked and fading tea set from when she had been young enough to play at tea parties – the twins had filled them with water and practised transfiguring things into goldfish in them once.  
Now she thought about it, most of the memories were twin related incidents. Molly had screamed at them for something at least once a day, sending them to their rooms permanently, while Arthur sat and wondered why they thought 7 children was a good plan.

"FRED! GEORGE!" Molly would yell,  
"Now dear, don't be too harsh..." The yelling would sometimes last for hours, depending on the severity.  
"Accidents will happen" Arthur would sigh, and head off to fix the latest damage.  
Ginny smirked. Accidents would happen, and they might cause Snape some problems.


End file.
